Mountain Biking Season Officially Open at Thredbo - MTB Trail Report

With the 2016 ski season well and truly wrapped up for Aussie resorts despite the main range still boasting a ski-able amount of snow coverage – it’s time to turn to Thredbo’s other primary Function. The resort with the year-round operations has been a hive for Mountain Bikers since the 90s and next weekend Thredbo will again open its doors to the pedal-pushing tribe.

If it’s the brown pow you crave skip on down the Monaro and ride the Kosciusko chairlift which will be spinning and servicing the biking contingent. Alongside both the trail and chair being open, the MTB rental and retail store will also be trading along with the first riding clinics of the season.

Over the summer season, Mountainwatch will be doing fortnightly trail reports at Thredbo Resort, so you know before you go.

This weeks opening has come with challenge due to an unusually cold and snowy October. Due to this the top section of the new All-Mountain Trail from Eagles Nest to Gunbarrel will not be open due to some massive snow drifts over the trail. The All-Mountain will be open from Gunbarrel down. Follow on for a more in-depth report on the trails…

Fast and flowing, the Kozi Flow trail will have you holding it wide open. Image:: Damian Breach photography

Kosciuszko Flow Trail

Open
The trail crew have been upgrading and improving majority of the trail adding more flow & features. The trail has been nearly fully rebuilt from the Kareela Hutt Restaurant down with some monstrous berms with strong support now in place for riders to rip in to at full speed. The traversing sections have also had a facelift and are now littered with rollers which can be pumped, doubled or tripled depending on riders speed & ability. The finish arena has had a re-jig and now features some rad switchbacks to be leant into followed by some fun small table tops for anyone looking for some airtime. As there Is still a significant amount of snow on the upper mountain, the first forest section of trail from Snowgums top station will be a little water logged first up, but we hope to get this section also rebuilt in the coming weeks.

The Track Crew have had their work cut out for them dealing with an unusually snowy October. Image:: Supplied

All-Mountain Trail

Lower section open from Gunbarrel top station down
Our hope and aim was to unveil the new top section of the trail, however due to an unforeseen amount of snowfall throughout October & some giant snow drifts mid-trail, this top section will remain closed for now. The lower half has been receiving some post-winter love patching up ruts created over the colder months and re-instating many of the berms through the Cruiser ski slopes. The thick forest sections below the Cruiser slopes will take a little time to dry out also but will be running fast & flowy as always. Excavator work will continue on the lower sections of trail in the coming weeks with necessary diversions in place.

It's all downhill from here, let the good times roll. Image:: Supplied

Cannonball Downhill Trail

Open
The rough & raw Cannonball Downhill will be open top to bottom for opening weekend with some rad new features in place. The top ‘Karella Pass’ section will still be a little boggy due to snowmelt on the upper mountain but once riders dive into the rock gardens of ‘Snakes & Ladders’ things will dry up for the better as the speed and difficulty picks up in a heartbeat. All major jump areas have been re-built with the ‘12m Canyon’ jump now decommissioned and replaced with a step-up right side hip, an intermediate tabletop & a long and low double jump race line. The feature at the ‘Hollywood’ area has also had a face-lift with a step-on, step-off /whale-tail style jump now in place. The ‘River Rapids’ received a re-build towards the end of last summer and received little damage over winter revealing some awesome flow and new jumps including a re-shape of the‘Hoppers Crossing’ jump. The Whip off jump at the finish is back and is now slightly bigger with longer landing & take off. Leading into this the trail crew have created 3 massive berms with a ‘Shark Fin’ style stepdown in the middle.

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